From Swedish House of Finance to China – PhD starts course in big data

Oct. 21, 2016

A recent PhD från Stockholm School of Economics, Tomas Thörnquist is leaving the Swedish House of Finance for an appointment as research assistant professor at HKUST Business School, China.

What will you do in your new role?
"As a professor, I will be teaching and doing research. Within finance in general, but primarily within my field: household finance. I will also start and lead a new course called 'Big data in finance', where the students learn how to understand and use big data. The course will teach basic programming skills, which is essential in understanding big data. I myself have a long background in programming, and found that knowledge useful in my research."

What appealed to you in this job?
"It’s exciting to experience something entirely new – I have no previous experience from China and that makes this role extra interesting."

Tell us about your current research.
"I am working on three papers, where the first explores how married couples agree on financial decisions concerning the household and how they invest their money. Usually, the households are regarded as a single unit, without consideration to the fact that there are two individuals that discuss and make joint decisions. How that happens, is the topic of one of my papers.

The second paper explores how people use news articles when they make decisions on investment in stocks.

The third paper is on how the loss of a parent at an early age affects individuals’ behavior as adults. Primarily the financial behavior, but we also have data showing that the effect varies depending on whether you lose a mother or a father, and that the loss of a parent affects the probability of graduating from school."

What’s your most important take-away from the years at Swedish House of Finance?
"I have learnt the craftsmanship of being a researcher, which has given me a solid foundation for continuing my research."